For most schools, class is finally well underway for the fall semester. The beginning of the new school year also marks National School Success Month to help students be their best. In honor of September’s National School Success Month, we at Questia, the premier online research and paper-writing tool for students, have gathered the most researched education topics and opened up reference works on these subjects free for a month. Enjoy!

Classroom Management: Teachers are responsible for a variety of tasks in a typical classroom, and one of the most important is classroom management. The ability to maintain order, respect, rules and procedures helps guide behavior and results in a properly functioning classroom. Creating an environment where students are engaged and comfortable allows students to flourish and learning to occur. [Marzano, Robert J., Jana S. Marzano, and Debra J. Pickering. Classroom Management That Works: Research-Based Strategies for Every Teacher. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2003. Questia.]

Learning Disabilities: Learning disabilities (LDs) represent a set of disorders that include difficulty in a variety of academic and social domains and can include reading, math or written language disorders. Through research focusing on a specific type of LD, such as reading, researchers have gained a solid understanding of the cognitive characteristics of specific disabilities along with evidence for genetic and brain bases for that LD. [Harris, Karen R., H. Lee Swanson, and Steve Graham, eds. Handbook of Learning Disabilities. New York: Guilford, 2003. Questia.]

Bullying: Recent movies and news features have highlighted the severity of bullying, especially in schools. However, sources site that bullying has been a societal problem for hundreds of years and occurs in the workplace, homes, prisons and nursing homes. The most common environment for bullying is in schools, and as many as 49 to 50 percent of all students will experience some form of bullying throughout the duration of their educational experience. [Sanders, Cheryl E., and Gary D. Phye, eds. Bullying: Implications for the Classroom. San Diego, CA: Elsevier/Academic, 2004. Questia.]

Educational Psychology: Educational psychology emerged in the late 19th century and has evolved through three eras: the founding period (1890-1920), the rise to prominence period (1920-1960) and the modern period (1960-present). One of the most notable contributors to educational psychology is E.L. Thorndike, who transformed the study of education from the realm of speculation and philosophy into a science. “Thorndike was the first to offer a research-based conception of individual differences in intellectual ability that recognized the role of specific knowledge in intellectual performances,” (Zimmerman & Schunk 117). [Zimmerman, Barry J., and Dale H. Schunk, eds. Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Questia.]

Early Childhood Education: Many researchers and psychologists believe that children go through sequential, predictable stages. Through these stages, children acquire learning techniques and develop necessary skills to interact with society. One of the most notable theories for early childhood education in Piaget’s “Piaget’s Theory,” which provided scientific vindication to the notion that young children are different, cognitively limited and go through predictable, sequential stages. [Yelland, Nicola, ed. Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education. Maidenhead, England: Open UP, 2005. Questia.]

Head over to Questia for even more quality research on popular education topics. Happy reading!